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Sandy Breed and Bruce Clark
Real Names: Sandra K. "Sandy" Breed and Bruce Clark Case: Lost Friends/Heirs Location: Chittenango, New York Date: May 22, 1964 Bio Occupation: Student (Sandy), Rancher (Bruce) Date of Birth: March 13, 1948 (Sandy) Height: 5'10" (Sandy), 5'11" (Bruce) Weight: 170 pounds (Sandy), 165 pounds (Bruce) Marital Status: Dating (Each other) Characteristics: Caucasian female. Dark hair, brown eyes (Sandy) Case Details: Shortly after 10AM on May 22, 1964, fifteen-year-old Sandy Breed left Chittenango High School and ran off with her twenty-two-year-old boyfriend Bruce Clark. The two have not been seen since. Sandy has no idea that her parents have passed away and that her mother left all of her $150,000 estate to her. Sandy grew up in Bridgeport, New York. She was especially close to her father Vernon who lavished her with attention and gifts, which included two horses. However, she was treated quite differently by her alcoholic mother Jean. Jean's sister Jackie Daugherty recalled that while Jean took care of Sandy, she never showed her any affection or love. As a teenager, Sandy became more and more withdrawn, both from her classmates and her family. According to Jackie, Jean was verbally abusive towards her daughter, often telling her that she was overweight and ugly. Sandy's closest friend was Darlene Eden (now Darlene Jensen), the daughter of family friends who lived 700 miles away in Michigan. She often wrote to Darlene about guys that she liked who didn't reciprocate her feelings. However, one day she wrote to Darlene about Bruce Clark. He worked on the farm where she boarded her horses. Though Bruce was barely literate and eight years older than Sandy, the young couple shared a common love for riding. Before long, they were spending every spare moment together. Sandy's parents were against the relationship. They wanted her to go to college and have a successful career. They tried to keep the couple apart, but that only made them want to be together more. She refused to follow her parents' demands and wanted to be with Bruce. On September 24, 1963, he picked her up at school and the ran away to start a life together. However, their escape would be short-lived; three days later, their car broke down in Michigan. With no money and no one to turn to, Sandy finally called her friend Darlene. Darlene's mother was sympathetic but felt that she had no choice but to contact Sandy's mother Jean. She and her brother, a county deputy sheriff, arrived in Michigan to pick up Sandy. They informed her that Bruce would face criminal charges if the two continued seeing each other. Jean's brother told Bruce that they couldn't force him to return to New York; instead, he could stay in Michigan and not face charges. However, Bruce did not want Sandy to deal with everything alone. He agreed to go with them back to New York. Back in New York, Bruce was arrested and jailed. Ultimately, he received a suspended sentence for impairing the morals of a minor. Sandy became a virtual prisoner in her own home. She was forbidden to go anywhere except church or school. She was also ordered to not communicate with either Bruce or Darlene. She and Darlene arranged to pass letters through a friend. She told Darlene that she was depressed and upset that she and Bruce got in so much trouble for "loving each other". In one of her last letters to Darlene, Sandy signed: "See you soon, maybe sooner than you think". Less than a year after Darlene received the letter, Sandy and Bruce ran away again. This time, they did not return. Her parents never saw her again. Vernon died in 1991; Jean passed just six months later in January of 1992. According to family members, Jean had never forgiven her daughter for leaving. That made it all the more surprising when it was discovered that Sandy was the primary beneficiary of the estate. Since Jean's death, Darlene has intensified her efforts to find her long-lost friend. Darlene believes that in one of her final letters, Sandy left an important clue to her current identity. In the letter, she wrote about how sad she was and how things were going at home. At the bottom of the letter, she added: "P.S. Tell Bruce my French name is Jeanette". She believes that Sandy used this name for her new identity. Along with Darlene, the attorney for Jean's estate hired a private investigator to look for Sandy. The investigator has noted that the case has been very difficult to solve as there have been few solid leads to her whereabouts. Darlene believes that the couple initially went to Canada. She suspects that they later moved to the Western United States and are still involved with horses. She believes they could be working on a ranch or a racetrack. Sandy's uncle believes that she is deceased. Jean had told him that Sandy had severe physical health problems that would kill her if she did not receive treatment for them. However, it is not known if she ever received treatment for these problems. Darlene considered Sandy to be a sister. She hopes that she can find out what happened to her and Bruce. Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of the December 1, 1993 episode. Some sources state that she vanished in April of 1964 and was sixteen-years-old. Results: Solved. In 1996, after the heir investigator assigned to Sandy's case was unable to locate her and exhausted all leads, the money from her mother's estate was donated to a foundation for the blind. In August of 2018, Sandy was removed from NamUs and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. According to NamUs, she has been found alive and well at the age of seventy. She was located earlier in 2018. For her privacy, no other information is being released. Links: * Sandra Breed at The Charley Project * Sandra Breed at The Doe Network * Sandra Breed at Porchlight International for the Missing and Unidentified * Sandra Breed Websleuths Discussion * Inheritance Awaits Woman Who Fled Home * Missing Heiress Fails to Show * Heiress fails to appear to claim mother's estate * Students Act in Unsolved Mystery * Students travel back in time for TV show * Chittenango woman's location is a national 'unsolved mystery' * TV show spotlights Sandra Breed case * Woman missing 30 years loses last claim to inheritance * Search Ends with Last Check Signing * Search Ends With Check * The Day I Was A Horse Wrangler For A TV Show ---- Category:New York Category:1964 Category:Disappearances Category:Lost Loves Category:Inheritance Category:Horse-Related Cases Category:School-Related Cases Category:Solved